Gun control: Here's how Congressional candidates Scott Perry and George Scott stand on the issue

This is one of a series of stories on where the candidates for Pennsylvania's 10th Congressional District stand on issues of concern to voters.

In the new 10th, comprised of Dauphin, most of Cumberland and northern York counties, incumbent Rep. Scott Perry, a Republican, is seeking a fourth term. He is being challenged by Democrat George Scott, a career Army officer now serving as a Lutheran pastor in East Berlin.

Here are their positions on the gun control debate:

The main difference here is that Democrat Scott, who jumped onto the primary stage in a big way with a television ad in which he broke down an assault rifle and tossed it onto a bonfire, is far more open to most gun reform measures than Republican Perry.

Scott has said he has no desire to overturn the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms.

But he does believe in 21st America that right has to be balanced with better regulation, including background checks for all gun sales, and bans of products like bump stocks and high-capacity magazines.

"When the Second Amendment was drafted, the most common weapon was a musket, and the rate of fire of a musket for a really good person was one round every 30 to 40 seconds," Scott said.

"Now, we've got weapons that, if they're modified, can put dozens of rounds out in less than a minute. And so, it's a different world we live in."

Scott says he is open to restrictions on the sale of assault rifles.

Scott also wants to authorize and fund the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study the causes of gun violence, something that gun-rights supporters in Congress have blocked for nearly a generation.

Such study, he hopes, will be able to provide a common base of knowledge for future, more data-driven solutions to gun violence.

Scott compares his approach to the national dialogue on auto safety in the 1960s and '70s that led to standard seat belts, air bags and improved driver training.

"None of that was designed to eliminate cars," Scott said. "It was designed to make driving a safer experience. And I think that's the dialogue that we need to have when it comes to guns and gun violence.

"Not to take weapons away from law-abiding gun owners, but to make our society safer."

Perry has built his career on a strong pro-gun record, including sponsorship of Pennsylvania's Castle Doctrine bill that extended the rights of people to use guns in self-defense.

He has consistently during the campaign diverted questions about gun control to other solutions, like extending resources to schools to let them make local investments in becoming more secure.

Perry argues that those real, pro-safety solutions are a better fit with America's right to bear arms than promoting what he sees as feel-good solutions that, in his view, aren't likely to have their desired effect.

Perry has, however, more recently left the door open to one proposal that would create a process similar to the civil protection from abuse process in domestic violence cases where worried friends or family could seek removal of firearms from a person they see mental health or other red flags on.

"We've got a red flag bill that we're looking into," Perry said, pointing to a bill introduced this summer by Rep. John Katko, R-New York, authorizing the creation of "extreme risk protection order" giving police or family members an avenue to win a court-ordered seizure of guns where there are well-developed concerns of a threat.

He cited the example of repeated police visits to the home of Nicholas Cruz, the accused gunman in February's mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. in February.

"When the police are visiting your home 35 times, that's a red flag to somebody," Perry said, stopping just short of endorsing the bill.

"We want to see if it's going to work as opposed to we're just going to do something that sounds good and makes us feel good but doesn't have any effect in keeping our kids safe. That's not the answer."

While endorsed by the National Rifle Association, Perry's NRA rating has dropped from 'A' to 'A minus' this year. Scott received an "F" rating from the NRA.